Mommy Ginger
Let's talk about Business, Beauty and Babies!

The Google Cardboard — Coolness!

My husband is now playing with his new toy. It’s made out of cardboard. It doesn’t look like a gadget, but it’s something that’s so high-tech (well, in my opinion it is). When we read this post years from now, we may just laugh at the thought that I think it’s so cool and so innovative. It’s called the Google Cardboard.

Google Cardboard!

Google Cardboard!

If you want to know more about it, check out this link: http://www.google.com/get/cardboard/index.html The template was designed by Google so that you yourself can experience this whole new ‘virtual world’. The minute I tried out these glasses, I was amazed. We viewed the demo apps and all of them are amazing. Even my daughter thinks it’s amazing. She was chasing a 3D mouse that was running through the woods.

Google Cardboard being enjoyed by my daughter, too!

Google Cardboard being enjoyed by my daughter, too!

We also went through a tour of the Palace of Versailles. We also watched different videos. If you are a developer, you can already create compelling applications for this. What’s even more amazing is that you can create your own Google Cardboard. You can get the Manufacturer’s kit here: http://www.google.com/get/cardboard/manufacturers.html

This really proves that for people who are looking for businesses to get into, you won’t run out of ideas if you just explore and be open to new ideas. You can start a business and create applications that use this innovation. What other new things have you discovered recently? Do share it with us!

Playground WiS100 Wi-Fi Socket

There will come a time when all of the things in our house will be automated. Those things that we see in the movies where the TV is voice activated, opening our windows can be controlled using our mobile phone are all not that far-off. I’m not sure but maybe these things exist already. I remember 4 years ago, when I was still employed, I heard of the prepaid electricity project and now its a reality.

I really want to be part of all this automation. I’m sure my husband, who’s more techy than I am, is even more excited for all of these changes. Imagine his glee when I showed him the Playground WiS100 Wi-Fi Socket. His eyes lit up like he found a new toy to play with. We tested it first with our RiceCooker, although it didn’t really make any sense to use it with it.

Playground Wi-fi Socket

Playground Wi-fi Socket unboxing

Playground Wi-fi Socket unboxing 2

Here’s how to use this gadget! Read this carefully as you’ll find it to be so cool!

First , you download the WiWo Application. It’s available in Google Playstore and iOS App store.

Playgroung Wifi Socket 4

Playgroung Wifi Socket 3

Plug the Playground WiS100 Wi-Fi Socket into the socket near the appliance that you want to connect it to. A red light on the device will blink slowly. Turn on the app at this time. It should find the WiWo device and you can already set it and name it. You can keep a list of devices. For this one, we  named the connection ‘RiceCooker’.

Playgroung Wifi Socket 2

 

 

 

Playgroung Wifi Socket 1

We then realized that we could use this more for two things, one was for our electric kettle and the other one was for the aircon. We heat water early in the morning for my husband’s bath. We don’t have a heater so we have to it manually and mix hot and cold water in a pail. We realized that it’s so convenient to connect it to the Playground WiS100 Wi-Fi Socket because my husband need not get up just to go to the kitchen to turn the kettle on. He can just do it with his mobile phone and just get the after a few minutes.

Playground's Wi-fi Socket in our home!

Playground’s Wi-fi Socket in our home!

The one for the aircon came in just in time. The aircon in our room is busted so we need to use the aircon in our living room. We just open the door to the masters bedroom so that the cold air goes to room. Using the Playground WiS100 Wi-Fi Socket is so convenient since we can turn the aircon on from the master’s bedroom and we need not get up to go there. We can also turn it off in the morning when it’s already too cold.

I love this Wi-fi Socket and I know a lot of moms and dads will love this! They have amazing products at Playground.ph. Check out their Facebook page, too (https://www.facebook.com/playground.ph) and Twitter account (https://twitter.com/playgroundph).

 

 

 

 

 

Blogging and Branding

In a business, you always have to stay ahead and a big part of it is branding. I’m a lover of branding. I have studied branding ever since I was in high school and it was not because I had to study it (obviously, I didn’t have subjects on that in High School… haha!), but I was fascinated by it. I used to compete in aerobics marathons and I learned a lot about branding through competing. Since we were all judged and the winner was not determined by actual time spent on the aerobics floor, but by judge’s scores, how to stand out from your competition was totally up to you. You needed to get the judges attention. I had to wear really catchy outfits. I had to constantly keep that smile on my face. I had to get people to clap for me. A lot of weight on how I performed was dependent on how I ‘branded myself’ during the competition.

We know that in business branding is important, too. The likes of Nike, Starbucks and Coca-cola would not have gotten to where they are now if they didn’t value branding.

In blogging, a lot of the bloggers have asked me, how do you become a successful blogger. I wanted to share this with you in Blogopolis this year, but unfortunately, I am running Love the Leap, my entrepreneurship program this year and could not make it as a speaker. But this post is something that I would like to impart and share with bloggers who have that question still in their minds. How do you make waves and be noticed by brands? BRANDING, believe me, is a huge part of it.

1. Truly Know Yourself – I’m not a motivational speaker. Anyone who has attended my class or some of my talks know that I am far from being ‘motivational’ in any way. That is why undergoing the Yoga Teacher Certification Course for my RYT200 was difficult for me since I always thought yoga teachers needed to sound inspirational. So in this blog, you could and would actually hear me speaking. When I write, I write how I would converse with any one of my friends or family. I can’t appear or try to be someone who I am not. Do you know that readers can smell if you’re faking it or if you really mean what you say? So this thing about really knowing yourself is a big deal, because how can you communicate with others (readers) effectively, if you do not know who you are in the first place — if you keep on changing your personality from one to another? How can people truly get to know who you are?

2. Identify a Legacy that you want to Leave – You might say that this tip is so unreachable and so hard to do! Ang bigat naman! Legacy agad! I know that word Legacy sounds intimidating and it sounds like something that you would think of when you’re about to die (so morbid!), but your own legacy doesn’t have to be that deep and it doesn’t have to be something that you only think of in your deathbed. Come to think of it, I don’t think that there are any legacies that are ‘shallow’. For example, if your legacy is to be the best mom that you can be, oh my! That’s sound simple but that’s so hard to achieve. So for your blog, think of a legacy that you, as a person, want to achieve and keep in mind that your blog is there to help you. Use it as a tool to achieve that legacy.

For my blog, the legacy that I really want to leave is to help a lot of people jump into the life that they want and achieve a steady stream of passive income that helps them sustain their lifestyle through starting and maintaining a successful business. I know that becoming an entrepreneur is dream of a lot of people, and I want to help achieve this dream by sharing my own experiences and even sharing the experiences of other people. I am a believer in continuously learning about things and what I like about my role as a business coach is I get to learn more and more about business with the experiences that I get to hear from other people, too. My blog, I know, is a wonderful tool that I can use to reach this goal of mine faster.

3. Realize that only ‘YOU’ matters – When I was starting in the blogging world, I wanted to be invited to events, I wanted to know a lot of people in the industry, I wanted to hold contests and I wanted to hold contests that those more famous bloggers were holding. I wanted to be ‘in’! And then, as I got older and wiser (and more beautiful… haha! Just kidding!), I realized that in this industry, the only thing that matters is what YOU think and not what other people think. What matters is what you do and not what other people are doing. From the time that I realized this, that’s the time when I went my own way and started seeing the benefits of being unique. Of course I’m not as popular as other bloggers out there, but what matters to me is that each and every day, I get to take a step closer to my dream of helping the nation build a more stable economy with helping these aspiring entrepreneurs start their own businesses. Also, in my blog, I write about the journey of being a mom, because that’s my life and that’s who I am and SHE (my daughter) is my reason ‘why’ I’m doing all of these things.

So these are the top three things that I wanted to share with you in Blogopolis this year. I couldn’t, so I just wrote it down. I believe that bloggers are given such great power to create a lot of changes in our society today. The title of Blogopolis this year is Shifting Gears (by the way, buy your tickets na if you haven’t pa!) and is such an apt title for the environment that we are living in today. As bloggers, we are in the forefront of all of these changes and yes, although some of us may have been nominated to be influencers last year, I believe that we are all influencers in our own right.

Bloggers Choice Award

Bloggers Choice Award - Blogopolis

To my fellow bloggers, thanks for nominating me for the Bloggers Choice Award for 2014. I am honored to be part of such a wonderful list of people. Guys, ano namang laban ko kina Patty Laurel (love you, Pats!), Kelly Misa at Divine Lee? haha! Picture palang, talo na ako! Anyway, thank you for those who voted for me. Please keep on voting! 🙂

Love lots,
Ginger

That Thing Called Financially Free (Learn about Virtual Assistance!)

Huwow! The title sounds like an ad! Anyway, I just watched That Thing Called Tadhana, and the thing that kept bugging me, was how these two individuals managed to travel and travel for several days without worrying about money. Both of them were in their late 20s and about to reach 30. Both of them just came from Rome and yet they had the finances and the freedom to travel back to Manila, go on a road trip to Baguio and Sagada then back to Manila. Wow! I wondered what the jobs of these kids (kids talaga?) were? Although, she mentioned that she was a brand manager. Shucks, I remember when I was a brand manager, I didn’t have time to travel! I was always connected and could not afford to go on trips! So kawawa!

But, I guess I would have believed it more if they were both entrepreneurs or if both of them worked from home and were part of tech start-up companies! haha! Just kidding. But seriously, a lot of the people that I know, who are financially free, self-made and are still young are those that put up their own businesses or those with a lot of “rackets” on the side.

Back in 2010, I was already making extra bucks on the side as a blogger. I learned about Virtual Assistance and tried to write for different companies. In three weeks, I earned enough money to help me buy a new, “top-of-the-line” mobile phone. I imagine that a lot of people who are actually doing this right and who are really prioritizing this are earning a lot.

That is why I’m excited for you, guys, to meet my friend, Marge Aberasturi. This is her new website, which I really really love: http://margeaberasturi.com/ She will be the speaker of the first ManilaWorkshops.com and WAHMderfullife.com workshop this 2015 entitled Set Up Your Virtual Assistance Business for Success.

Be A Virtual assistant

 

I highly recommend those of you who want to learn more about Virtual Assistance and to those who want to move toward the direction of starting your own VA business to attend this workshop. If you want to work-from-home this 2015, this is a good workshop to attend. There are still a few seats left so don’t forget to sign up at THIS LINK!

SIGN UP NOW and be the next VA Rockstar like Marge!

A Life Full of Love

Happy Valentine’s Day!

And with that, let’s all sing along with my crush, Adam…

I have this horrible sore throat now and no, it’s not from singing (i wish!), but it’s from this pestering colds and cough that I had from our trip from Ilocos. I’ll write about it in another entry, but today, let’s talk about LOVE!

I think love is such a simple word to say and to spell, but not all of us really understand it’s meaning. Most of us, especially now that it’s Valentine’s day, think that love is something related to romanticism or sometimes even to lust or infatuation.

I got to watch 50 Shades of Grey and most of the viewers were ladies. I think we, ladies, were there for Christian Grey (aminin!) and for the romantic story line (even if it scenes of BDSM was patched on to it). Most ladies are really romantics. I think, I’m pretty safe making that generalization. We want to be loved and of course, we want to give love back. I think that’s pretty amazing. If we have everyone adhere to this general rule of loving each other, we’d have no senseless fights, murders and chaos. Although, I’m fascinated by all of these things about love, I think that you don’t necessarily need to be a romantic to be capable of giving great and pure love. Love doesn’t always involve romanticism. Why do we always think that love should always be equated with being a romantic? I don’t think so, because I for one, am not a romantic person (haha! There, I have said it!). Though, obviously, I am not a heartless biatch, too!

When I was younger, yes, I believed in romance. I still do, but I don’t think that this is the only word that we can associate love with. There are different types of love that we can feel for each person.

Shake your Life

I finally finished reading the book Shake your Life by the Happy Barn Milkshake Factory and some of the virtues and values that I would associate LOVE with are the following things stated in the book and descriptions directly quoted from the book:

Virtues

COMPASSION: “When someone is sad, be sensitive and share in his/her sorrow. Have a compassionate ear that will listen and a compassionate heart that will help.”

KINDNESS: “When you are helpful towards those in need without expecting anything in return”

FORGIVENESS: “When you forgive others, you take away their power to hurt you.”

GRATITUDE: “Being glad for things that happened knowing that it was not you who made it happen — that is gratitude!”

So this Valentine’s day, think of the other people around you, too, and impart Compassion, Kindness, Forgiveness and Gratitude! Have a great Valentine’s Day, everyone!

PS. Shake your Life! The Happy Barn Milkshake Factory’s 30 Thirsty Quenching Flavors of Happy Thoughts to Live By can be purchased at any Happy Barn Store!